On March 24-26, 2011, the conference “Asian Studies: Traditions and Transformations” was held at Omni Parker House Hotel, and six of us attended. Chris Westphal (Education and Human Services), Simone Chun (Government), and Micky Lee (Communication and Journalism) presented papers at the panel “Globalization: Labor, Trade Union, and Constructed Citizenship,” of which Da Zheng (English) served as moderator. At two other separate sessions, Gertrude Hewapathirana presented her paper “Lived Experience of Successful Entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka,” and Ron Suleski (Rosenberg Institute) gave a PowerPoint presentation about his detective work in tracing and analyzing a Chinese family’s genealogical history against the backdrop of the Republic Era. All of these sessions were very well attended, and audience seemed interested and asked questions.

In addition, a few members from Suffolk attended some sessions.